


Strange Relations

by SingingInTheRaiin



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Kid Fic, Kinda, Not a reunion fic, Parallel Universe Travel, Post-Season/Series 04, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-06 00:42:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20282572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: The Doctor always goes running when he hears his name called. But he's certainly not expecting to bump into his future self, and a boy that reminds him a lot of Rose...





	Strange Relations

The Doctor found himself actually smiling as he strolled around the market of Axinod VI, watching the sheer around of energy in each vendor as they tried to convince each passing customer to shop from them. It was a hub of cultures, with people from thousands of different planets and races. He noticed that a lot of the vendors were children, by the standards of their own various races, and couldn’t help thinking that they were cute as they tried to grab his attention while he walked by.

Just as he considered stopping so that he could browse a stall engine parts, he found his attention snatched away by someone calling out, “_Doctor! Doctor, where are you?_” 

For a moment, the Doctor was reminded of Christmas in 1851, with a poor human who’d believed himself to be the Doctor. But regardless of what was going on, if someone needed his help, then he would be there for them. So he followed the sound of the shouts, ignoring the strange looks being given to him as he rushed through the market, absent-mindedly apologizing the people he ended up shoving past. 

The Doctor followed the shouts until he had left the marketplace, and found himself standing in a little alley. Because nothing bad ever happened in alleyways, of course. “Doctor!” The Doctor shuffled closer, and saw what looked like a human boy standing in a doorway, pressed up against a door. “_Doctor, where are you?_” The boy’s eyes passed right over the Doctor, but more importantly, the Doctor realized that the boy hadn’t even opened his mouth, despite the fact that he was definitely the source of the shouts. A telepath, then? Though that was so rare among humans that he would have called it impossible just a few minutes ago. 

“I’m the Doctor. I can help with whatever it is that you need help with,” he told the boy in what he hoped was a trustworthy voice. 

The boy blinked a few times as he looked at the Doctor, and then tilted his head to the side. “You’re the Doctor?” This time he actually spoke aloud, and in case the Doctor had needed any further proof, the voice was exactly the same as the telepathic one.

“Yup! Who are you?”

The boy continued to stare at him, and then sighed. “Ah, regeneration, right. Well, since you clearly don’t know me, I’m going to assume that you’re from your past, not your future, which means that I really shouldn’t tell you anything. It’s unhealthy to know too much about your own future.”

The Doctor nodded. “You’re probably right about that. But surely you could at least tell me what’s wr-”

He was cut off mid sentence by a sharp voice calling out. “Jesse! Get away from him right now!” 

The Doctor looked over at the newcomer, and saw a man who had the oddest combination of a childish looking face, but the outfit of an old man. The boy looked back and forth between the two, before finally looking towards the goofy looking man. “He said he’s the Doctor.”

The other one sighed. “He is.” Then there was a long moment of silence, and the Doctor suspected that they were communicating telepathically. Then the boy- Jesse- peeled himself away from the door and made his way over to the other man. The two whispered furiously amongst themselves for another moment before the boy let out an irritated noise, and then trotted off. Then the two men faced each other, and the Doctor waited impatiently for some answers. He didn’t want to be, but he found himself feeling rather offended by the fact that he was being treated like a dangerous criminal by someone who clearly knew him. 

“Who are you?” he demanded.

The other man took a few steps closer so that they could speak at normal volumes to each other. “I’m the Doctor,” he said, a slight grin on his face. “For real this time,” he added. 

It had been a while since the Doctor had really tried to focus on his own timeline, since he hated seeing how many times it ended in the loss of someone else. But he decided to make an exception, and looked. He could see the truth of it almost immediately, and then quickly pulled back, not wanting to see everything that would happen in between now and the future. “Well why did you come here, then? It must be something important if you would risk a paradox.”

The bowtie Doctor shook his head. “I don’t remember meeting my future self here; the memories are only coming back as they happen. Clearly some very important matters will be discussed that makes it necessary for you to forget.”

The Doctor crossed his arms over his chest. “Why did you tell that boy to get away from me?”

The other Doctor rolled his eyes. “Do you really have to ask? I can see where you are. You’ve just lost everybody important to you, right? Rose, Donna, Martha, Mickey, Jack. All of them moving on with their lives without you. You are alone, and you are afraid of being alone, and that makes you dangerous. Which means that I can’t trust you around my- Jesse.”

The Doctor narrowed his eyes, but knew himself well enough to know that now wasn’t the time to push. “What are you doing here, anyways?”

The older Doctor gave his younger counterpart a long look before letting his shoulders slump down, and he carelessly shrugged one shoulder. “Adventure,” he answered in a way that he had to know would come across as annoying. “Look, I think that you should probably just go. There’s nothing for you here.” Then he turned and left without saying anything else. He had to have somehow gotten much stupider in his old age to think that it could really be left at that without a fuss.

The Doctor only waited a few seconds before following after his older self, keeping just enough distance between them to avoid detection. He didn’t find himself back at an older version of the TARDIS. Instead, they walked back into the market. And then the Doctor was left uncertain about whether he should continue to pursue himself through the crowd. He’d have to stay particularly close if he didn’t want to lose track of his target. Maybe he hadn’t gotten quite as stupid from old age as he’d thought. 

There was only so much suspense that the Doctor was willing to take, and after a big pause, he made his decision, and he rushed through the crowd. Even though his older self was just slightly shorter, they were both still pretty tall, which made it easier to keep an eye on that messy head of dark hair.

The older Doctor stopped at a stall selling pastries, and after a moment, the Doctor spotted Jesse there, looking particularly grumpy as he bit into one. The older Doctor seemed busy arguing with the baker about something, but it only took a few seconds for Jesse’s eyes to land on the Doctor. 

The boy bit his lip as he glanced at his own Doctor, but then after a moment, slipped away, seeming to vanish into thin air until he reappeared right in front of the Doctor. He reached out one gloved hand to grab the Doctor’s, and started pulling him away from the market. The Doctor was pretty sure that he wouldn’t ditch a companion on a random planet, not that he thought he was ever going to take on another one anyways, so he decided to let himself get pulled along, knowing his older self would find them eventually.

They left the market again, and after a few minutes, this time they did arrive at the TARDIS. The boy abruptly let go of the Doctor’s hand, and then turned and leaned up against the blue box, crossing his arms over his chest. “I was aware that he’s- you’ve- got a lot of issues, but I didn’t realize that there would be enough of them to demand I get away from you. So what did you do to earn that?”

The Doctor shrugged, though he already knew that it was entirely possible that he would get out of control. It’s not like he hadn’t been aware of the fact that he’d been spiraling for a while. Since he’d lost everyone. “What are you two doing here?”

Jesse looked the Doctor right in the eyes, and even though the Doctor had strong mental shields, he couldn’t help wondering if the boy could somehow read his thoughts anyways. Considering how loudly Jesse had been able to shout in his head from so far away, the Doctor wouldn’t disbelieve it, even though the idea of a human telepath was still quite bizarre. Whatever ability this boy had, it was something much more advanced than the occasional human with psychic power. 

Whatever it was that Jesse had been looking for in the Doctor, he seemed to find it, because it looked as though he relaxed a little bit. “Spare parts. You know how this daft old ship can be. What are you doing here?”

The Doctor shrugged again. “You know me- sort of. Always looking for the next adventure.”

The two stared at each other for a long moment, and even though Time Lords didn’t get awkward, the Doctor couldn’t help feeling slightly awkward in that moment. Before he could say anything else to try and break the silence, he sensed his older self getting closer. “Jesse!” he barked out, in a sharp tone that the Doctor so rarely took with his companions. 

Jesse didn’t seem at all concerned by the Doctor’s ire. “It’s alright, D-Doctor. I’m not stupid enough to go about causing any paradoxes around here.” Then he gave the older Doctor a pointed look. “I think you two should talk. About me.” Then he stepped inside the TARDIS, and the door slammed shut behind him.

The older Doctor reached up to rub at his forehead, and clearly seemed to be exasperated by the boy and the situation. “I suppose that since I can’t remember any of this happening, it means that I am supposed to tell you. But honestly, that kid…”

“We seem to have a habit of picking up difficult companions.” 

The other Doctor blinked a couple of times. “Companion? Oh, right, yes. About that. I think that what Jesse wants me to tell you is that he’s our son. Sort of.”

The Doctor’s eyes widened in disbelief. “What?”

Both of them moved to a nearby bench to sit down, and then the older Doctor spoke while staring straight ahead instead of looking at his younger face. “I say sort of because he has our DNA, but he’s not physically ours. Not like Jenny, though. It’s… well, I’m sure you remember stranding that biological metacrisis with Rose in Pete’s world?” The Doctor slowly nodded. As if he could ever forget that. “Well he’s theirs. Rose and our human self.”

The Doctor’s eyes widened even further. “He’s Rose’s son?” He had no right to feel the slight pang of jealousy that came at the thought of her being with someone else, even if that someone was himself. But more importantly, he’d thought he’d never see any hint of Rose again, so to see her child, to see proof that she lived and had a life, and… “Why is he here? How did he get here?” And then another thought struck him. “I have the same face as the metacrisis. Why didn’t he recognize me?”

The other Doctor continued to look off into the distance as he shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t have any answers. He showed up one day- and no, I’m not going to tell you when- and all he’d say is that his parents were Rose and the human Doctor. I did every test and scan I could possibly think of, and there’s no way that he could have been lying. He clearly didn’t want to talk about his past, so I wasn’t going to push him. We’ve been traveling together ever since. I think that he wanted you to know about him so that you could know there’s hope for the future. You’re not always going to be alone.”

That was all well and good, but if Jesse was the child of two humans, then he was still only going to experience a human life span, and in the end he would still grow old and wither away. But still, he was a part of Rose. The Doctor jumped to his feet, and hurried over to the older TARDIS. He thought he’d have to fight his way in, but the old girl swung the doors open before he even started to reach for his key.

The Doctor took a moment to look around at the new interior. It looked so fancy and modern, with glass and simulated sunlight. Then he focused on Jesse, who was sitting on the jumpseat at a strange angle, so his back was up against one of the arms, and one of his feet was touching the floor while the other was flat on the seat. “Why didn’t you recognize me if I have the same face as your- as your father?”

Jesse didn’t look at all surprised by the question. “I never met him,” he answered in a soft voice. 

Did that mean that Rose hadn’t gotten her chance for a long and happy life? The entire point of leaving her behind was because he thought that it would give her the chance to have everything she wanted, but he’d failed at that too? Then again, knowing Rose, she wouldn’t see it that way. She had a kid, and he could imagine her being a great mother. “How is… how is Rose?” It hurt to ask out loud, but he needed that confirmation that she’d been alright.

There was an apologetic look on Jesse’s face right before he answered. “I don’t know. I never met her either.” The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows, and he was vaguely aware of the other Doctor stepping inside the ship, but he kept his eyes glued to Jesse as the boy kept talking. “I was raised by others. I didn’t even know that there was anything weird about me, but it didn’t take long to figure it out. When I had been alive for ten years, I still looked liked a toddler. I was booted out the door, with nothing but the clothes on my back and the only thing my biological parents had ever left for me. It was a letter. It was from Rose and her Doctor, and it told me a little bit about their lives, and about how to get to this universe so that I wouldn’t have to be alone, and neither would he- you.” He frowned, and tipped his head back to stare up at the cavernous ceiling of the console room. “Right now, I’m somewhere around three-hundred and fifty years old. I’ve got nothing on you, but still. The Doctor thinks that I’m going to keep aging for another couple of years, until I look more like a human adult, and then I’ll probably just stop.”

The Doctor knew that he was just staring at the boy with a stupid expression on his face, but he didn’t know how else to react. “What- but how?”

Jesse sighed. “It was all in the letter. Rose and her Doctor lived a long life together, and she was in her late sixties when she started to worry about you again. She didn’t want to leave you alone in the world, and she also had apparently always wanted a child. They had a TARDIS, that’s what I used to get to this universe, and they used it to do… something. There wasn’t a big description of the science-y stuff, and the letter was also written before they did anything. She said that both of them would be long dead by the time I got the read her letter. Said that they’d figured out a way to make me the way that I am, but it would kill them both. Said that that was okay since they’d both already lived for so long. I followed the instructions in the letter to find the TARDIS, and she let me right in, and helped me get back here. Then once I was on this side, I traveled by myself for a while before I sent the TARDIS back empty to the other universe so that there wouldn’t be any holes left behind in the fabric of reality. Then I just waited around until eventually the Doctor found me, and I’ve been going around with him ever since.”

The Doctor squeezed his eyes shut, even though he was pretty sure that he wasn’t about to start crying, since that’s not something that Time Lords did. But to think that Rose had loved him enough to worry about him even after he’d left her behind, and had also trusted him to take care of her child… it hurt, but it also felt right. “Why didn’t you tell any of that to me when you first met me?”

Jesse shrugged. “I wasn’t ready to talk about it. Finding out you’re adopted, and then getting kicked out of your home, and then finding out that you’re part alien, and that you’re going to live for a very, very long time, and then traveling to another universe to meet a future version of the man who’s technically your father, well… it was a lot to deal with. And after a while, the subject just never came up again.” He sighed. “But since you didn’t know anything about me when I met you, you’re going to have to make yourself forget about all of this. I just hope that some of the hopeful feelings will be left behind for you to hold on to.”

The other Doctor suddenly pushed past the Doctor to pull Jesse up into a hug. The Doctor had honestly forgotten that his counterpart was even there, but as he watched his future self pull the boy into a tight hug, the Doctor couldn’t help feeling something like hope start to build up inside him. 

,,,

The Doctor looked at the readings on the screen in front of him. They definitely were not the coordinates that he’d put in. He knew that the TARDIS was a living thing, but it still seemed ridiculous for her to be able to send him wherever she wanted him to go. But he also knew that there was no point in arguing with the designated driver, as a very wise girl had once told him, so he heaved out a long sigh to make sure the TARDIS understood how annoyed he was, and then stepped outside. 

Suddenly, there was a weird feeling in his head, and it took the Doctor several long seconds to realize that it was the feeling of someone else being there, specifically a Time Lord. His eyes widened, and he began running towards the source almost frantically. He knew it couldn’t be possible, but he also knew what he was feeling, and even though it wasn’t anywhere close to what it felt like back before he’d ended the war, even a single connection was a large step up from the gaping hole that had been left behind in his mind.

The Doctor slowed to a stop when he found himself in a grassy field, and there was only one person in it. It appeared to be a boy, sitting on a checkered blanket, a picnic basket open next to him. The boy slowly turned to look at the Doctor, and something about his hazel eyes dark blonde hair felt shockingly familiar. He offered up a slow smile. “_You the Doctor?_” the boy’s voice whispered directly into his mind. The Doctor could only nod numbly in response. The boy grinned wider. “Great. I’ve got extra sandwiches. And some bananas. Want to sit?”

The Doctor sank down onto the blanket, and gave the boy a long look. “Are you… who are you?” His mind was screaming the truth to him, that the boy in front of him was somehow a Time Lord, but he felt like he could barely believe it.

The boy tossed a banana to the Doctor, who automatically caught it. “I’m Jesse. I’m your son.” And suddenly the Doctor felt just a little bit less lonely.


End file.
